64 HISTORY OF THE 



I have found them in numbers along the Gulf coast and in 

 California. Thej breed from the nortliern United States to the 

 Arctic circle; their nests are usually placed upon dry grounds, 

 generally in tufts of grass, and often quite a distance from the 

 water. They are made of grass, weeds, etc. , and lined with down. 

 Eggs usually eight to twelve, 1.78x1.28; pale buff; in form, oval. 

 According to Mr. Dall, the birds frequently lay sixteen to 

 eighteen eggs; and Mr. Hearn says that this species is far more 

 prolific than any of the Ducks resorting to Hudson's Bay, and 

 he has seen the old ones swimming at the head of seventeen 

 young, when the latter were not much larger than walnuts;* 

 in July, 1880, I saw, at Grosse Isle, one of the Magdalen group, 

 a female with ten little chicks. 



Subgenus QUERQUEDULA Stephens. 



"Bill slightly longer than the head, the edges nearly parallel, the maxillary 

 tomium sinuated, so as to distinctly expose the lamellae for the basal half, and 

 the terminal half of the culmen slightly but distinctly arched. Otherwise much 

 like Nettion." 



Anas discors Linn. 



BLUE- WINGED TEAL. 

 PLATE V. 



Summer resident; not uncommon; in migration, abundant. 

 Arrive the last of March to middle of April; begin laying the 

 last of May; leave late in the fall. 



B. 581. E. 609. C. 716. G. 288, 29. U. 140. 



Habitat. North America in general, but chiefly east of the 

 Kocky Mountains; south in winter to the West Indies and north- 

 ern South America; north to about latitude 60°. 



Sp. Char. '■^Adult male: Head and neck dull plumbeous, slightly glossed 

 with lavender purple on the side of the occiput and nape, and marked in front 

 of the eyes by a large, somewhat cresceutic, patch of white, extending entirely 

 across the anterior portion of the head; pileum, chin, and feathers bordering 

 the white patches, blackish; lower parts pale reddish, thickly spotted with black, 

 the crissum uniformly black. Back aud anterior scapulars dusky, marked with 

 concentric or U-shaped bars of pale reddish buff; lesser wing coverts and outer 

 webs of some of the longer scapulars pale blue; middle coverts white for the 

 exposed portion, forming a bar across the wing; speculum bronzy green, dusky 

 terminally, with a very narrow white tip; tertials black, with a central stripe 



♦ North American Water Birds, Vol. II, page 5. 



